Heart of Steel

by Cathleen Cole

  So, I was doubly petrified of messing up. It was like a self-fulfilling prophecy though. Worried about destroying that which I loved so much that I destroyed that which I loved. I slammed a hand down on the wheel of the Camaro.

  Enough Rem. It was time to stop feeling sorry for myself and just do what needed to be done to fix it. It would take time, but I was willing to put in the work and money.

  I was fairly proud of myself when I only cringed a little when I met Uncle Caleb’s disapproving and pissed off look. I was absolutely going to get an ass chewing. I knew he loved me, but I also knew he was angry and frustrated that I was ‘mixed up’ with Steel. As he so aptly put it. It drove me nuts when he treated me like I was still a kid. I might be young, but he was trusting me enough to put an entire company on my shoulders.

  He should trust me with my own love life too. I followed him into the back with all the enthusiasm of a prisoner walking toward the gallows.

  Chapter 47

  Steel

  The banging on my door made my head throb, and I groaned. Flipping onto my stomach I stuffed my pillows over my head to drown out the sound. I was in the middle of wishing whichever asshole had woken me up a quick and untimely death when they started yelling on top of the banging.

  “Steel!”

  Shit. That was Riggs yelling, but I could hear both Cade and Gunnar arguing with him in the hall about just busting in the door. I pulled my head out from under the pillows and looked at the clock. Six-thirty a.m. I was pretty sure I was still drunk from the bender I went on last night after I left Remi’s place. I rolled out of bed and cursed when I didn’t catch myself in time and landed on my ass next to the bed.

  I managed to stagger to my feet and pull on jeans and padded to the door, bare-chested and barefoot. Whipping open the door I glared at my three best friends. I ignored the looks I got from them. There was no need to look in the mirror to know I looked fucking rough; I felt it.

  “Fuck off.” I started to shut the door, only for it to catch on the boot that Riggs stuck through at the last moment.

  God damn it. I just wanted to be left alone so I could go back to sleep. My brother wrenched the door out of my hands and opened it, letting the other two stroll in. I growled and went to check the coffee maker. I always had it set to be ready by six-thirty. If I was going to have to listen to these assholes this early in the morning, I was going to need caffeine.

  All three sat at the island and watched quietly as I fixed my first cup. Finally, I turned around and returned their stares. I didn’t offer them any. They were family, if they wanted it, they could get some themselves. I wasn’t feeling nice enough to wait on them.

  “What the fuck do you want?”

  “You look rough, bro.” I rolled my eyes at Cade’s brilliant deduction.

  “What happened?” That came from Gunnar. I narrowed my eyes at him. I’d only gotten the barest story out of him in California about what had happened with him and Bridget and that was only because of the fucking nomads, to begin with. I didn’t feel like fucking discussing my feelings.

  Although, I did need to tell them about the FBI going after Mackenzie’s. It didn’t have to be right this minute though. I remained stubbornly mute and crossed an arm over my bare chest and lifted my cup to take a long drink from it.

  “Logan.”

  Fuck. My brother never used my given name anymore. Unless he wasn’t messing around. I met his gaze.

  “We didn’t have time to catch up when you got back into town between you picking Remi up, meeting Bass, and then disappearing again.” I nodded. After I’d dropped Remi off, I’d gotten a text from Bass, saying we needed to meet. He hadn’t had a lot of concrete evidence, but he’d found out that somehow the Lycans had known about our Long Beach chapter getting busted by the FBI and which of our members had left town to deal with it.

  Bass had still been trying to figure out how they knew what our club was up to, but he had wanted to inform me right away that we had a snitch. I’d been able to pass it on to Cade before I’d gotten the text to meet Remi. Fuck yesterday had been a shitty day. The idea that one of our brothers had betrayed us made me feel sick. Having the FBI sniffing around Remi pissed me off. Remi trying to break shit off with me made me want to find out who caused all of this and take out all of this anger and frustration on them. All in all, I was in a pretty foul mood.

  “We figured out who was giving information to the Lycans.” I straightened up and waited for Cade to continue. “It was Red and Ty.”

  “I’ll fucking kill them.” I slammed my coffee cup on the island.

  All three men were shaking their heads. “We haven’t found them yet.” I frowned at that.

  “We got that out of Rhett.” Ty and Red had been kicked out of the Vikings after they started that fight with Gunnar before we left for California. We hadn’t considered it was them leaking information because they were already gone before we’d left. But Rhett hadn’t been a part of that fight, so he hadn’t been ejected with them even though the nomad brother had shown up at the same time as the others.

  “Where is Rhett?”

  “We got everything out of him we could then we took care of him.” Riggs picked up the coffee cup I had set down and finished it off.

  “And we still don’t know where the other two are?”

  “No, but once we find them, we’ll kill them.” Cade gave me a dark look, and it calmed me a little. “We looked for them yesterday and last night. Anyone who wasn’t looking last night is out looking now.” I grimaced because I was drinking myself stupid last night and I wasn’t out helping right now. Cade caught the look.

  “Obviously, you have something going on Steel.” They all looked at me expectantly.

  I scrubbed my hands through my hair. “One of Al’s guys managed to get rid of the manifest before the FBI made that raid.” They all nodded, that wasn’t news to them. “Since everything was on the Mackenzie truck already, they weren’t going to be able to pin anything solid on our club, so now they’re going after Remi personally, and the company.” All three cursed.

  “Two Agents met with her yesterday and listed off a few different charges they were coming after her with and it freaked her out pretty badly. They were stupid enough to leave her alone for a few minutes though and she deleted the manifest from the company records. She doesn’t keep hard copies except for what she sends with the truckers. So, there is nothing to link us with the crime. But that puts her holding all of the stolen property.”

  I put my hands on the edge of the island and leaned all of my weight on them and looked up at the ceiling instead of meeting the guilty and angry looks of my brothers. “We had a pretty big blow-up about it. She’s convinced we’re done and that she’s going to prison.”

  They all started talking and arguing at once and I couldn’t help but laugh. The outside world may think we’re just a bunch of criminals but if you fuck with our families, we fight hard to protect our own, and Remi was ours now. Sure, she thought she was done with me. Done with us. She was wrong.

  “You know we won’t let her, or Mackenzie’s take that fall,” Cade promised, and I nodded at him, in thanks.

  “As far as her being done, I assume that’s bullshit?”

  “Who knows?” I muttered darkly.

  My brother snorted. I shot him a glare. “Grow some balls, Steel. Or is Remi carrying them around in her purse?” I clenched my fists. I wasn’t in the mood for his version of humor.

  “Fuck you, Riggs…”

  He cut me off. “No, if you’re going to be a pussy and let her get away because of something small like this, then fuck you.” He stood up and got in my face. “And fuck her if she is going to treat you…” My temper snapped. I grabbed my brother by the shirt and spun us around, slamming him into the fridge.

  “Don’t fucking talk about her like that,” I snarled in his face.

  “Oh yeah, why not?” He taunted.

  “Because I’ll kick the shit out of you. No one ta
lks about the woman I love…” I stopped mid-sentence. My shocked brain missed the smug grin on Riggs’s face. I noticed it once he spoke again though.

  “Yeah, that’s what we figured.” He shot a look over my shoulder at the others. I plowed my fist into his jaw. The crunch was satisfying, even as the pain washed over my knuckles. My brother’s cursing was even more so.

  “Seriously Steel, you can’t let her back off,” Gunnar said quietly, but it calmed Riggs and me down instantly. Cade gazed quietly at Gunnar. We all knew he was hurting over Bridget, but he wouldn’t let any of us in to help. It wasn’t going to be as easy as them helping me with Remi. Before I could say anything in response, my phone rang. The readout told me Bass was calling. I shot Cade and Riggs a look and answered.

  “Yeah.” I put it on speaker.

  “Hey. I don’t have time. Ty and Red just showed up where I am.” Bass was talking in low tones, which meant the rest of the Lycans were around. It also meant it wasn’t safe for him to be making this call.

  “Have Rat trace my cell and get over here as soon as you can.” The call disconnected. Gunnar had already run off to wake up Rat. I ran into my room and pulled on a t-shirt, socks, boots, and my cut. I smelled like a booze factory but there was no helping that. I grabbed my wallet, gun, and keys and we all ran down the hall to Rat’s room.

  I waited impatiently while Rat pulled up the location of Bass’s phone through the find my-Apple app. Gunnar seemed to have some idea of what he was doing but that technology bullshit was so far outside of the scope of what I was capable of it wasn’t even funny. Instead, I just bided my time, imagining what I was going to do once I got my hands on our former nomad brothers.

  “There. It stopped at that warehouse.”

  We all leaned in and looked at the map that he had pulled up on his computer.

  “Let’s go.” We were all running for the parking lot before I realized I had left my damn phone. Cade and Riggs made the calls to get as many of our brothers to meet us there with as many guns as possible. There was no telling how many Lycans were going to be there or what we’d be walking in on.

  Chapter 48

  Remi

  Groaning, I rolled over and smacked my phone as it happily started chirping at five a.m. I’d stayed the night at my dad’s place again. My life was a tornado right now and being here was helping to ground me. I had an early morning meeting with Uncle Caleb and Preston this morning to go over a preliminary game plan for what to do about the FBI Agents. Preston spent all day yesterday going over the case notes he’d gotten and the charges they planned to bring against me.

  I showered and got ready for the day as quickly as I could. By five forty-five, I stepped outside and turned to lock the door. I took a deep breath of the clean, crisp air. I may not be a morning person but there was something about the cool air right as the sun was starting to rise, which made you feel alive.

  That’s when cold, hard hands wrapped around my head and face and I sucked in a breath to scream.

  “Scream and I’ll stab you.”

  The sound strangled in my throat. The guy’s rank breath tickled my cheek, and I froze. Was I seriously being kidnapped in front of my house in broad daylight?

  Well, in early morning daylight.

  Suddenly Steel’s deep voice rumbled in my ear and I remembered our sparring lesson from a few weeks ago.

  “What would you do if I grabbed you like this?” One of his arms had snaked around my waist and the other had gone around my neck.

  This guy had both arms around my neck, but I think the principal would be the same.

  Better than not fighting. I had to take the chance that the guy would be caught off guard and wouldn’t have time to make good on his threat to stab me if he did have a knife. Steel always seemed to have multiple knives and guns on him, so I doubted this guy was any different.

  I quickly raised onto my tiptoes then brought my hands up between his arm and my neck. I quickly gripped his wrist, dropped my shoulder, and sent the asshole sailing over my shoulder and onto his back. I gave him three or four hard, sharp kicks to the chest and ribs. Sergio would have been proud.

  I broke into a run, sprinting toward my car. If it had just been him, or I hadn’t wasted time with kicking him, I would have made it. But they were such good kicks. I saw a dark blur racing toward me out of the corner of my eye. I was embarrassed to admit I squealed as I tried to dodge the second guy who was running toward me. He tackled me, sending us sprawling to the ground. I groaned when his weight came crashing down on me. Then, I couldn’t even do that because he knocked the wind out of me.

  Worse than that the asshole had flung a leg over me and was now straddling my chest as I wheezed and struggled to breathe. He had something in his hand, and I realized it was a cloth that he was pouring something on.

  Fuck. Darkness was creeping in from the edges of my vision. He wasn’t going to need to use that on me if he didn’t let me breathe soon. I didn’t know if he was actually cutting off my air or if I was panicking but either way I started scratching and punching at the man as hard as I could.

  I felt some smug satisfaction when one of my punches connected with his crotch and he grunted in pain. Unfortunately, from underneath him, I had no power behind my hits and as soon as that cloth touched my nose and mouth it was lights out.

  Chapter 49

  Remi

  “Remi… Remi!”

  I groaned; my head was throbbing.

  “Remi, wake the fuck up.”

  I huffed and pried an eye open. That was a really sweet way to wake a girl up. Both eyes snapped open as I looked at the guy sitting in front of me. I gasped. He was tied to a chair. I looked down. Well fuck. I was also tied to a chair, and we were facing each other. I looked back up at him and winced. I sure hoped I didn’t look like him though.

  Bass grinned at me and his lip split open wider, sending blood trickling down his chin. “You alright?”

  I eyed him. “Better than you… I think?” I thought about it but other than a little soreness from being tackled I didn’t feel like I’d had my face pulverized.

  Bass on the other hand had two black eyes, a split lip, and more bruises than I wanted to count and that was just from what I could see on his face. Normally he was a gorgeous guy. Not so much right now. “What happened to you?”

  “Lycans.”

  “Huh?” I looked around. Was he talking about werewolves? Maybe he had a concussion? I remember Julie’s sister, Ming, saying that people with really bad concussions could hallucinate.

  “The Lycans. They are a rival MC.”

  Oh, okay that made more sense than werewolves.

  “Why are you here?”

  “I was working undercover. Cover got blown,” he said.

  Something told me there was more to it than that, but I didn’t bother to ask more questions. There had been more than one phone call that Steel had taken in private and he never discussed club stuff with me. Well, except for what had happened in California. But that had directly involved both me and dad’s company. My face must have darkened because Bass’s brows shot up.

  “Any idea why I am here?”

  “Because I warned you that you had three days to get me my money.” I groaned when Rhonda’s nasally voice came from somewhere behind me. I met Bass’s gaze.

  “Is there a skinny, ugly, coke head looking woman standing behind me? Probably five-sixish? Dark, greasy, short hair? Wearing jeans that are too tight and a shirt that is too short?”

  Bass snickered at my description of Rhonda, then winced when his lip split further.

  “Your girl sure has a mouth on her, Rhonda.” A man stepped into my view and I sneered. He was probably about thirty and younger than my mom by at least ten years.

  Gross. Mom had been a young mother and my dad had been quite a bit older than her. But if this guy was her boyfriend? She’d gone the opposite direction after leaving my dad and robbed the cradle. I eyed the patches on his vest that said Lycans, P
resident, and Blaze.

  Blaze grabbed my face roughly in his hand and turned it this way, then that, studying it. “It’s a pretty mouth, I’ll give you that though.” He said it low but the pinched look on my mom’s face when she stepped into view told me she’d heard it.

  “She looks like her father, Blaze,” She sneered at him. He just raised a brow but didn’t take his eyes off me.

  “Handsome man then.” He grinned. The way he was looking at me made my skin crawl. Finally, he moved away from me and pulled my mother up against him, and kissed her. With tongue. Gag.

  “Where’s my money, Remi?” She sounded breathless once they finally broke off the kiss.

  I glared at the woman who I was unlucky enough to call my mother. “I’m not giving you shit. I’ll die before I give you anything.”

  “That can be arranged,” she snarled, stepping forward threateningly. I raised my chin. It wasn’t much of a defiant gesture since I was still tied tight to this stupid chair, but it was all I had.

  “Now, now ladies. Let’s take a breath. Luckily, I thought ahead. We have some visitors who should be here soon.”

  I frowned at Blaze.

  “Did you two idiots deliver the message?”

  I saw Bass stiffen and craned my neck around, trying to see who he was looking at. It was really hard to do when I was stuck in this chair and they were standing behind me, but I saw enough to have my blood run cold. It was the guys from that first party at the Viking’s clubhouse. The ones who had been dragging Bridget and me upstairs. They sauntered closer and smiled at me.